MAM
Reader’s Digest’s first ad campaign in 10 years – ‘Get Involved’
NEW YORK: Reader’s Digest, which claims to be the largest circulated magazine in the world, has announced the launch of its first advertising campaign in 10 years supporting the company’s flagship magazine. The tagline — Get Involved — urges advertisers to tap into the deep connection that 40 million US readers have with the magazine.
In one ad, a young couple is pictured behind the headline, “If we got any closer to our readers, we’d need a pre-nup.” In another, a young professional dines at a coffee house reading an issue behind the headline, “If we got any closer to our readers, they’d be finishing our sentences.” The ads will appear through 30 June in Advertising Age, Adweek, Mediaweek, Brandweek and The Advertiser as well as on phone kiosks in New York City.
An official release states that as part of the campaign, Reader’s Digest will offer members of the media community the opportunity to write copy for future ads and win a weekend at a luxury hotel by completing the phrase ‘If we got any close to our readers.’. The contest will reach advertisers via Adweek.com, Adage.com, and mailings.
An official release that the campaign is the latest step in an industry movement that values audience quality, not merely size, in media buying. Reader’s Digest has helped lead this charge among major magazines by creating the Involvement Index — an audience quality metric now used by account teams within agencies across the country. The Involvement Index has attracted support from a growing roster of magazine companies including Disney, National Geographic.
The Index rolls up key MRI involvement measurements (such as average reading time and percentage reading four of the last four issues) into one number, and allows planners to make quick, objective, defensible comparisons on magazine audience quality.
Executive publisher of Reader’s Digest Dom Rossi said, “A big audience is only valuable if the right people are paying attention. Advertised brands need prime time with consumers who are overwhelmed with information. That’s what counts. That’s what we deliver. With this ad campaign, we’re telling our story: We deliver consumers who are more involved with our content than any other magazine or TV show.”
Among the top 10 magazines reaching women 25 to 54, Reader’s Digest ranks second in involvement with an index of 161 (61 per cent above average, 3 points behind Parents). With an Involvement Index of 139, Reader’s Digest ranks second among the top 10 magazines for reaching PC-owning US households. National Geographic is first with 146.
AD Agencies
Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
